Crystal Wise
Graham Elliot
Graham Elliot
The Michelin Guide, a highly regarded guide to what is generally considered the world's greatest restaurants, has finally arrived in Texas, Michelin announced on Tuesday, ending a nearly 20-year snub of Lone Star State restaurants.
The first-ever Texas edition of the Michelin Guide will come out later this year, according to Michelin’s website, and will cover restaurants in five cities: Fort Worth, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston. Fort Worth's inclusion will last at least three years, says Mitch Whitten, Chief Operating Officer of Visit Fort Worth, which partnered with Texas Tourism to bring Michelin to the city.
While new to Texas, the guide, published by the French tire company of the same name, is internationally known and respected by restaurant owners and diners alike. Restaurants listed or ranked by Michelin often experience a major uptick in sales, while diners who follow the guides consider them essential tools for mapping out vacations and trips.
"It's a great thing for Texas, a great thing for Fort Worth," says local chef Tim Love, owner of several restaurants in Fort Worth and beyond. "It's going to bring our culinary scene a whole new wave of national and international attention, and that is a very, very good thing."
Anyone who has watched The Bear, a fictional television series rooted in realistic challenges facing independently owned restaurants, may recall conversations in which Michelin, and its one-to-three star ranking system, have been mentioned.
As portrayed in the show, receiving a star, even just one, can be of great benefit to a restaurant.
“For any restaurant to be in the guide is huge,” says Fort Worth chef Jon Bonnell. “It opens your restaurant to a whole new international audience. People travel from all over the world to visit restaurants mentioned or ranked by Michelin.”
Bonnell says the guides are so respected because of how they’re compiled — by “anonymous inspectors” who do not make their presence known while they’re dining at a restaurant that’s being considered for inclusion.
“Out of all the restaurant guides out there, Michelin has the most integrity,” he says. “Restaurants can’t buy their way into the guide. You can’t get your friends and neighbors to vote a bunch of times online to get your restaurant into a guide. There’s a lot of gravitas to the Michelin name, a lot of power to it.”
Fort Worth can lay claim to one Michelin-star chef, Graham Elliot, a Seattle native and chef who joined local chef Felipe Armenta’s FAR OUT Hospitality restaurant group two years ago. Elliot's eponymously named restaurant in Chicago earned two Michelin stars in 2013.
According to Michelin’s website, the guide’s “anonymous inspectors” have already descended upon Texas restaurants, where, in their quest to find the best of the best, they pay for their meals and dine secretly to ensure they’re treated like any other guest. This type of veiled critiquing recalls a time when most major print media outlets used staff and freelance critics to anonymously review their city’s restaurants, long before the age of influencers, who often charge restaurants monetary fees or expect free meals in exchange for coverage.
There’s long been an air of secrecy around the Michelin Guide, raising questions from diners and restaurant owners alike, such as who are the inspectors and how many times do they visit a restaurant before they submit their findings.
"None of us, owners, chefs, servers, know anything about the inspectors," Love says. "We don't know when they're coming. We don't know who they are. We don't know how many times they come in before they evaluate us. There's a certain amount of mystery involved - and that keeps all of us on our toes, which is good. It makes us all want to do better."
Another question raised over the years revolves around whether cities or states pay for the privilege of having Michelin rank their restaurants.
Gwendal Poullenec, the director of the guides, told The New York Times last year that although the company accepts “partnership” money to offset the expenses of the review process, whether a state or region merits its own Michelin guide is determined by the company’s inspectors, who “assess the maturity” of the restaurant scene as a preliminary step.
In a CultureMap story, Michelin declined to comment on whether any fees were paid by statewide tourism board Travel Texas, or by the tourism boards in the five cities, to bring the guide to Texas.
According to Michelin’s website, inspectors use a five-point criteria system while deeming restaurants fit for inclusion: "1) quality products; 2) the harmony of flavors; 3) the mastery of cooking techniques; 4) the voice and personality of the chef as reflected in the cuisine; and 5) consistency between each visit and throughout the menu (each restaurant is inspected several times a year).”
Included restaurants are then ranked with one to three stars, with three stars being the best.
Mark Hitri, executive chef and co-owner of Paris 7th, an acclaimed French restaurant in the Cultural District, says it could be some time before Fort Worth restaurants receive any stars.
“I am excited and I think it’s overdue,” he says. “It will bring lots of attention (to Fort Worth restaurants). I doubt Fort Worth will get any stars for a while. Maybe the Blue Room has a chance, maybe Nonna Tatta. All the other places have too broad of menu options. I think people focus too much on the stars, though. Michelin also has other levels of recommendation.”
Those additional designations include a Bib Gourmand selection, spotlighting restaurants that offer quality food at good prices, while “restaurants that are leaders in sustainable gastronomy” may be awarded a Green Star. Hotel restaurants may also be awarded a separate designation.
Over the past few years, the Michelin Guides have let their hair down a bit, focusing not just on fine dining restaurants but food trucks and other non-traditional restaurants.
“They still go by the same system, but you don’t have to have a restaurant with Monets on the wall to be included,” Bonnell says. “They’ve even given out a Michelin star to a street food vendor.”
The first Michelin Guide was published in France at the turn of the 20th century to inform French diners of the best restaurants to visit while traveling. A U.S. version wasn’t launched until nearly a century later, in 2005, and focused primarily on New York. Subsequent guides have been added over the years for locales such as Mexico, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington D.C., California and Florida.
Bonnell says for Texas — and Fort Worth in particular — to finally receive recognition from Michelin has been a long time coming.
“Fort Worth is the 13th biggest city in the country now,” he says. “It’s about time we got a little bit of credit for our expansive and vibrant restaurant scene. I'm absolutely thrilled.”
